Ficus Bowl #3

Here’s some more of that amazing Ficus. This piece shows what happens when one cuts a thin lid on a hot, humid day. It warps. Ergo: I think it looks best with the lid just a little ajar. I finished this strictly by polishing the bare naked wood and giving it a good BLO soaking and polishing some more. I haven’t yet decided whether to top it with anything. I probably will when it starts going all muddy-looking. For now, I like the look.The phinal photo is the bowl I didn’t get to make, for lack of a workable coring solution.About the finial. The base thereof is made from seven pieces of wood – two Fiddleback Walnut, four Ambrosia Maple, made into a frame so’s to show the Ambrosia figure all the way around, and the actual finial is Figured Birch, my very last piece of it. Here’s kinda what that process looked like.

I was hoping the color from the Walnut wouldn’t migrate quite so much into the Maple. At least it didn’t completely overwhelm it.

Oh. And something I recently added to my lathe tool arsenal.

It gets the wobble out of a wacky piece of timber pretty well. I just sculpt the wobbly parts off. So much easier than a chisel. A littl equiter that a chainsaw.

Jim, Ficus trees are the Industrial Shade Tree of choice around here. They shade everything from parking lots to residential streets. When them start destroying sidewalks with their enormous root systems and buttressed trunks, they get cut down. One got cut down a few blocks from here earlier this year. I got a lot of it. It’s seasoning really well. And becoming one of the most beautiful woods I’ve found.The chainsaw is also, sometimes, an effective lathe tool.I wrinkled your brain, Joe. That’s rare.Ivan and Arlin, thank you.